Former Colombian presidents urge Petro to give “clear definition” of relationship with Maduro

by Andrea
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Former Colombian presidents urge Petro to give "clear definition" of relationship with Maduro

Statement by the two former rulers came in the context of the suspension of aid to Colombia decreed by the North American President last Sunday

Former presidents of Colombia Álvaro Uribe and Andrés Pastrana urged the current president, Gustavo Petro, to give a “clear definition” of the relationship with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, whom they designated as “head of the Los Soles Cartel”.

“We demand from Mr. President Petro a clear definition of his relationship with the head of the Los Soles Cartel, Nicolás Maduro Moros, as well as an explanation of the so-called Pacto de La Picota and the consequent coincidence of subsequent talks called Total Peace with groups of criminal drug trafficking organizations disguised as political status,” Uribe and Pastrana said in a joint statement on Monday.

La Picota is a penitentiary center in Bogotá, where the former High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, and Petro’s younger brother, Juan Fernando Petro Urrego, met with several prisoners, coinciding with the electoral campaign period for the last presidential elections in 2022.

The two former heads of state also relate these meetings to the so-called “total peace” law, which allowed the Colombian Government to dialogue with armed groups since the end of that year, in which Petro was elected.

Pastrana and Uribe justify the statement by alleging a “patriotic sense and deep concern” in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and the United States, linking the request for explanations to Petro detailed in the text with the accusation made by the White House tenant, Donald Trump, who defined the Colombian President as a “drug trafficking leader”.

Petro declined to respond to the letter out of alleged “respect for justice in Colombia”, also criticizing the “two former presidents suspected of links with one of the biggest businesses in Colombia”, and highlighting that “one of them was convicted and is serving a sentence”, in a reference to Uribe, sentenced to twelve years of house arrest for bribing witnesses and procedural fraud.

The statement by the two ex-governors came in the context of the suspension of aid to Colombia decreed by the North American President last Sunday, assistance that Donald Trump classified as “long-term fraud”, in statements in which he even threatened direct military intervention if Petro did not immediately close the drug production zones in the Latin American country.

Petro stated in response that Trump is being deceived by “his advisors”, assuring Washington that he, as Colombian President, is the main enemy of the country’s “narcos”.

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